The present invention is directed to waste material treatment devices, and more particularly to a compression device for feeding a waste material to a reactor.
Various reactor feed and waste treatment devices are currently available in the industry. U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,465 and 4,312,279 disclose reactor feed devices. These devices operate to produce a steady flow of material to the reactor, with varying methods of compaction. These conventional devices are not satisfactory, however, in that they are not versatile enough to process and adequately compress a wide range of waste materials. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,915,308; 5,108,040 and 5,320,034 disclose waste treatment devices that utilize a compression auger-screw to shred and compact various waste forms for disposal and further processing. These conventional devices are also not satisfactory since they are commonly limited to a fixed compression ratio no greater than 3:1 and they possess no jamming prevention mechanism. Furthermore, none of the aforementioned devices adequately maintains an air-seal for use with the currently utilized thermal treatment reactors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,422 discloses a rotary isolation door for separating a waste stream feed from the reactor chamber. This single opening design produces excessive wear on the single annular cutting surface, requiring frequent loss of processing time for replacement. Additionally, it depends on relatively high-maintenance hydraulics for operation and does not have control mechanisms for precise operation.
In view of the various drawbacks associated with individual conventional devices, there is a need in the industry for a variable compression device to compress or compact a variety of waste feed materials and which is compatible with a conventional thermal treatment reactor. Furthermore, none of the aforementioned patents disclose or suggest the combination of elements or methods that are considered to make the present invention patentable, workable and advantageous for a compression device and feeder for a thermal treatment reactor.